In a major development in the Mangaluru auto rickshaw blast case, it has been reported that there was an active satellite phone in the area before the explosion. Suspicious phone calls were made from a satellite phone in the area in the lead-up to the blast.
According to local media reports, the satellite phone was active in the forest areas of Dakshina Kannada, Uttar Kannada, and Udupi.
Reportedly, on November 18, a day before the blast, the satellite phone was active in the Kakkinje forest near Bantwal village. As Shariq reached the Bantwal area, the satellite phone was more active. Police and intelligence agencies suspect that Shariq went to the forest area to establish contact with other sleeper cells. The intelligence agencies have traced the satellite phone’s location.
Shariq was reportedly visiting forest areas in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and other southern states in the past few months in order to establish ISIS terrorist modules.
Interestingly, a lesser-known Islamist terrorist outfit Islamic Resistance Council (IRC) claimed responsibility for the blast in Mangaluru on November 19. The Islamist group has said that one of its ‘Mujahid brothers’ Mohammad Shariq attempted to blow up a ‘Hindutva temple’ in Kadri.
Days after the explosion in Karnataka’s coastal town Mangaluru was confirmed to be a homemade pressure cooker bomb, it has come to light that the accused in the case, Mohammed Shariq, utilized cryptocurrency to carry out the terror operation.
Reportedly, the probing agencies noted that Shariq and his handlers used cryptocurrencies and the dark web to make financial transactions and received funds online to execute the blast. Shariq traded in bitcoins and received funding online from the Middle east for the terror operation.
On November 19, an auto-rickshaw exploded in Mangaluru, Karnataka’s coastal town. The accused terrorist Mohammed Shariq was carrying a pressure cooker, and police found that there was an improvised explosive device (IED) inside the cooker which exploded. Shariq had hired the auto-rickshaw posing as a passenger.
Gelatin powder, circuit boards, tiny bolts, batteries, mobile phones, wood power, aluminium multimeters, cables, mixing jars, pressure cookers, and other components required to build explosives were found by the FSL team from the room rented by Shariq. One mobile phone, two fake Aadhaar cards, one fake pan card, and one FINO debit card were also recovered by the forensic experts.